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Iron Age inhumation burials at Yarnton, Oxfordshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Gill Hey ,
Alex Bayliss  and
Angela Boyle
Gill Hey
Affiliation:
Oxford Archaeological Unit, Janus House, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES, England
Alex Bayliss
Affiliation:
English Heritage, 23 Savile Row, London W1X 1AB, England
Angela Boyle
Affiliation:
Oxford Archaeological Unit, Janus House, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES, England
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Abstract

Radiocarbon dating of unaccompanied skeletons discovered during the excavation of an Iron Age, Roman and Saxon settlement at Yarnton, Oxfordshire, unexpectedly revealed the presence of a middle Iron Age cemetery (3rd or 4th century cal BC). British Iron Age burials before the 1st century BC are usually found as individuals, often in pits on settlement sites, or are repersented by disarticulated human bone. This paper explores whether cemeteries were a more common part of Iron Age burial practice than hitherto believed, or whether the Yarnton burials were a highly unusual and localized phenomenon? It highlights the merits of obtaining radiocarbon determinations on otherwise undated burials.

Keywords

Iron AgeBritainYarntoncemeteryburialThames Valley
Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 281 , September 1999 , pp. 551 - 562
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1999

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